A better approach to stop feeding the fraudsters with CARES Act relief

(Published in Tennessean) The federal government has yet to come up with an appropriate answer for the feeding frenzy of fraud that is looming with billions in CARES Act funding in play and trillions more likely on the way. Despite its best efforts, the government loses tens of billions of dollars from fraud every year, much of it committed by the very same companies now benefitting from CARES Act relief....

Payments News Update – October 29, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: The DOJ Is Investigating Visa’s $5.3 Billion Bid for Plaid on Antitrust Grounds Tech Crunch – October 28, 2020 It’s not just big tech that’s getting the antitrust treatment from the Department of Justice. Late Monday afternoon, the Department of Justice tipped its hand that it was investigating Visa’s proposed $5.3 billion acquisition of the venture-backed Plaid, which allows applications to connect with a user’s...

Whistleblowing As a Civic Duty: Now Is the Time To Act

With voting in the 2020 election underway and the presidential debates behind us, now is a good time to reflect on the importance of civic duties to the preservation of American democracy.  Voting, paying taxes, serving on a jury, and registering with selective service are all examples of such duties—responsibilities which, if ignored or unfulfilled by enough individuals, will cause the institutional fabric holding our system of government together to...

Payments News Update – October 22, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: UK Retailers Attack Visa and Mastercard Over Card Fees Finextra – October 20, 2020 The latest payments survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) shows card use continuing to rise steadily from 54% of transactions in 2016 to 61% in 2019. At the same time, the cost to retailers of accepting payments reached £1.1 billion in 2019, of which £950m was from card payments. While...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following. Pilgrim’s Pride to Pay $110 Million to Settle Charges of Fixing Chicken Prices.  Pilgrim’s Pride, one of the largest poultry producers in the United States, said on Wednesday that it would pay $110.5 million to settle federal charges that it had helped fix prices and then passed on higher costs for...

Payments News Update – October 16, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: 10 Ways Fintech, Payments Are on the Ballot in the 2020 House Election PaymentsSource – October 11, 2020 As the House of Representatives enters the 2020 election season, the outcome stands to encourage or rein in a group of technology companies that are encroaching deeper into financial services. The representatives voters send to Congress in 2021 will play a role in deciding how much of...

A Better Approach to Fighting Fraud in West-Virginia: Bring in the Whistleblowers

(Guest Essay Published in the Dominion Post) As the saying goes, Mountaineers are always free in West Virginia.  Unfortunately, the cost of fraud is not.  And as evidenced by the eye-popping $50 million fraud settlement the federal government just secured from Wheeling Hospital, there is a lot of fraud going around these days.  The problem for the Mountain State is it does not have the proper tools to deal with...

Partners Mary Inman and Henry Su discuss whistleblowing in Montfort Communications’ webinar "Whistleblowing: a Legal and Media Perspective from Both Sides of the Atlantic"

Constantine Cannon partners Mary Inman and Henry Su, alongside two renowned journalists - Katherine Eban and Martin Bright, participated in a webinar on whistleblowing issues across the pond, which was moderated by Stuart Leach, Head of Litigation and Disputes at Montfort Communications and aired last week. The webinar focused on the differences in treatment of whistleblowers in both the U.S. and UK. Mary stressed that there is a common cultural...

Payments News Update – October 8, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: House Panel Says Big Tech Wields Monopoly Power Wall Street Journal – October 6, 2020 America’s biggest technology companies have leveraged their dominance to stamp out competition and stifle innovation, according to a Democratic-led House panel, which said Congress should consider forcing the tech giants to separate their dominant online platforms from other business lines. The report released Tuesday from Democratic staff of the House...

Payments News Update – October 1, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: US Court Agrees With SEC That Kik's $100 Million Coin Offering Violated the Law Engadget – October 1, 2020 A US district judge for the Southern District of New York has agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s assessment that Kik’s $100 million initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017 was a securities sale. Judge Alvin Hellerstein has granted SEC’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that Kik violated the Securities...